My Christmas Wish List

Please remember it's my birthday. You can't really buy anything for the man who has everything, but I did leave you a wish list.
1. Whatever you do for the least among you, you have done for me.
2. Whatever you did not do for the least among you, you did not do for me.
3. I don't want you to be a hero for me-I want you to know me.
4. Love God with all your heart.
5. Love your neighbor as yourself.

I have given you a budget-don't spend too much money; do spend the time.
Please buy thoughtful gifts for your loved ones-but know that you can never buy their love.
Please decorate the world around you with the trimmings of the season-but know that they are just trimmings.
Sing even if no one else thinks it sounds right-I like it!
Read the Christmas story at least once-out loud. I placed it in Matthew 2 and Luke 2 for you.
Merry Christmas!
Love, Jesus

2000AD

...this is from way back in 1998AD, when we were contemplating the dawn of a new millenium and Y2K...

Does the number 5,760 excite you? How about the number 1,378? Or does an indefinite number of billions interest you? What does your calendar say? In under fifteen months, the calendar we are most accustomed to will proclaim the beginning of the year 2000, Anno Domini. Anno Domini, in case you are unaware of it, is Latin for "in the year of our Lord." Let us examine this 2000AD more closely. Calendars are a means of measuring and recording time. They are based chiefly on cyclical movements of the sun, moon, and stars, as from ancient times those were the only means of marking time. The Hebrew calendar starts with their traditional date of Creation, 3,760BC, and is based upon the lunar cycle. The Muslim calendar is also lunar, and counts back to the flight of Mohammed to Medina in 622AD, with reference to our own calendar. Our calendar is regulated by both the sun and the moon, with Christmas based upon a solar calendar and Easter based upon a lunar calendar. But it is fully based upon the Son.

"In the AD 500's the monk Dionysius Exiguus introduced the present custom of reckoning the years from the birth of Christ, which he miscalculated four to six years later than the actual date."-World Book, 1962 Thus every calendar we use honors the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2000 is not some mystical or magical number, but despite human error in its calculation still is very important in that it points to the central character of all history, the one who divides time. "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son,...." For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given," and "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." GAL 4:4, ISA 9:6, LK2:11. That day of reckoning marked the most important lifetime in the world. What is the purpose of his coming? "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God." ISA 61:1-2 Christ came at the appointed time for his appointed mission, sent by the God who said,

"Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights-the greater light to govern the sky and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day from the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. GE1:14-18

Our calendars proclaim exactly what God said at the beginning, by means of the sun, moon, and stars. He has sovereignly used the calendar to point to his Son for a special purpose. "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 2PE 3:8

A Jew might count time from his estimate of the Creation of the world; a Muslim might count from the flight of Mohammed. The coming year would then be for them 5,760 or 1,378. What would be appropriate for someone who denies God? Probably nothing more exact than an indefinite number of billions, variable in accordance with the latest theory. For one who has a relationship with Jesus, counting from his entrance into the world as a babe would be appropriate. We could laughingly look upon the error in calculation of his birthday, knowing full well that Jesus came specifically because of our imperfection. I pray that you will thing of that every time you write the date or look at a calendar.

For this is the day the Lord has made,
I will rejoice and be glad in it!

In Harm's Way

In harm's way a man sent a woman great with child. With nothing to her name she huddled between haybales, crying out in the pains of childbirth. This heartbroken young woman away from home had to fashion a nursery from her austere surroundings, using a feeding trough for a cradle and the tenuous shelter of this barn to buffer against the wind and the cold. This evil world has no room for the King's son, but a thousand armies couldn't steal the peace found in this place.

The stable is always open,
but are you out shopping?
Your gift is in the manger,
but you are at the mall.
Angry, impatient, dysfunctional families rush together with gifts and food and candles and colors-but the real celebration is a birth in a barn. Have you gone to the wrong party?

Of course, you realize this baby is Jesus and Christmas is his birthday. The party is at his home, but you have to go the way he came. he left heaven to be in harm's way so that he could invite you, the stable is always open, and he is even at the door. I'm tired of going to the wrong parties myself.

Christmas in the Face of a Child

His face shines on a cold, wintry morn. It is framed in peace as he becomes acquainted with this new world, humble surroundings of lights, sounds and earthy smells. He has not come unannounced, but he will take a journey few will understand. The light of his eyes has come into a dark world.

He has a kingly heritage, a path of destiny. From his youth he will challenge the world. He is a threat, and will be hated, accused, and betrayed. This sweet boy will one day have to lay down his life.

In this cruel and dark world, who can show us any good? The light of his face shines upon us. There is love in his eyes, joy in his little grin, warmth in his tiny fist as it grips his mother's hand. There is hope and a future in his delicate frame. He is a gift to the world.

The Labor of a Servant

A man

faces his task.

As he talks with his father, he hopes there is another way. In anguish, he steels himself to the requirements of his mission, and his father sends a messenger of encouragement.

In the morning, duty calls with the kiss of a friend. He is opposed on every side by those he is serving, but he will work with all his heart. it is a labor of deep love, and he wants to please his father, who is looking on.

Knowing the reward that will be due him, he shoulders the load. he is heavily opposed, and grows weak from pressure and abuse. his strength is failing, and another is enlisted to bear the splintered burden. He must press on.

There are others that will follow; he will complete the task with honor and without uttering a complaint. The work is heartbreaking and dries up his strength. He undergoes unspeakable humiliation, but for others. At his moment of greatest need, his father turns away. Even the light of day flees in anguish for his ordeal. he is fading.

The weight of the load is taking his life away. Has he spent his strength in vain and for nothing? Will he fail? He surrenders as he shouts, "The work is done!"

"And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, 'Surely this man was the Son of God!'" MK 15:37NIV84

A Response to a Call for Tolerance

This new 'tolerance' has little or no resemblance to the true meaning of the word. In engineering, tolerance is margin of error, a compensation for the inherent imperfections in manufacturing parts that will work together. It is kept as small as possible, and anything beyond the limits of tolerance must be reworked or discarded-it would adversely affect the function of machinery. In human affairs, tolerance should exist, but does sort of as a 'necessary evil.' Absurd? Not really. How much lying would you tolerate from your children? How much theft from your employees? How much murder from your citizens? How much blood-alcohol level from those who drive the same streets you do? We all hope the highway patrol would tolerate a certain 'margin of error [for cheating]' above the speed limit, but that renders us speeders nonetheless, while at the same time rendering the rule of law meaningless, if even in the most insignificant of respects.

No that I have your attention, let us consider this. Race, nationality, gender, or heritage are by definition not the subjects of tolerance. Behavior is. If you cannot tolerate children or those of a different race, you have the problem. If you cannot tolerate lying, however, you are in the right.

The fact is, we are all created in he image of our Creator, but we have all like sheep gone astray. We have inherent value to Him, but we also have inherent character flaws in His sight. He loves us, but by His very nature cannot tolerate our wrongdoing. Be thankful that He is patiently waiting for each one of us to come around.

A certain man  'had a dream that one day we would all be judged, not by the color or our skin, but by the content of our character.' Character and behavior counted to Dr. King; I hope they count to you.

-This is the edited text of a letter I wrote to the editor of the metro OKC Times newspaper, published in October 2000AD.

A Heart that Hears

This is an article I wrote long ago for a church newsletter in response to a pastor's sermon. The Lord once told Solomon, ""Ask for whatever you want me to give you" (1 Kings 13:5NIV). Solomon responded by asking for a discerning or (KJV) understanding heart to govern God's people. In verse 10, "The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this." His request was granted. He was given a discerning, understanding, even a hearing heart.

I have been unwilling to admit that I have been asking amiss. If God had given me one wish, I would have asked him to place me full-time into the ministry he has called me to. However, I do not have a hearing heart.

I need a hearing heart' one to hear the needs of my wife. I love her dearly for a thousand reasons, but I must say her heart does not become my own. I need a hearing heart; one that hears the cry of my daughter, a need beyond a little girl's words. I need a hearing heart; to hear the inner terror of one with no hope and without God in the world. I need a hearing heart; it cannot be said of me that I never let one of God's words fall to the ground.

A heart that is alive with the breath of God will smell the adrenaline of Satan, feverishly working while it is night. That heart will savor the sweet honey of the Word. That heart will have eyes, the eyes of Christ, stained by tears and great drops of blood. That heart will wince from splinters in the shoulders, and hold the cold hands of the helpless. The merest whisper from heaven will become marching orders.

A hearing heart is a heart willingly broken.

I thank Pastor for the wound of a friend. When he preached on this recently, I numbly heard him. I did not care enough to go to the altar.  Only later did the realization come to me of how unclean and unworthy it feels to not care enough. To not have the heart of God means to have little heart. To that and all other needs there is one sure prayer: "Change me, O Lord."